


into oblivion

by thesqian



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, F/F, Gore, Mild Gore, Unhappy Ending, im crying too it’s okay, im so sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-17 20:36:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16981377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesqian/pseuds/thesqian
Summary: it wasn’t supposed to end like this





	into oblivion

Finality is bittersweet.

Neither thought it would happen like this. Sure, both had considered time and time again that one might end at the hands of the other, thought about how close they’d come to it more often than either would like.

But this? _No one_ could’ve predicted this.

Adora—with her golden hair radiating in waves behind her, her muscular arms raised in defense—exhales deeply when the feeling of searing, white hot pain doesn’t course through her body. She lifts her head. Where was it? She was directly in front of the beacon; there’s no way it could have missed her, even with her shield held squarely before her.

She tears her blue eyes away from the dusty ground to peer over her golden shield, only to freeze in horror at what she finds.

Catra stands on wobbly, unstable legs. Her arms are raised in front of her head, crossed in a weak defensive stance. A last resort. She’s breathing laboriously, her ribcage heaving with the effort and as Adora looks at said ribcage, she finally sees it.

The second-in-command’s side has been torn at, burned, the flesh sizzling. Her uniform has been ripped away to expose charred skin. A portion of her body is gone, replaced with a gaping gash that festers with blood and melted tissue. A few of her innards are visible and move awkwardly as Catra takes a few steps back. She shifts and turns back to look at Adora. And when she does, realization floods her mind.

Catra saved her.

Catra, the enemy, saved She-ra, the savior of all Etheria.

“Catra?” The blonde’s voice is hoarse like she hasn’t used it in some time.

She feels her heart rip in two as Catra gives her a weak smirk.

“Hey, Adora,” she rasps as her eyes flutter close and her body goes crashing to the ground.

Adora leaps to her feet with a strained cry and falls to Catra’s side in an instant. The Sword of Protection clatters behind her, taking She-ra with it. Adora, frayed red jacket and all, crouches beside her once best friend. Her hands stutter forward, shaking, and reach for her, one cradling her head while the other rests lightly on her abdomen. Catra hisses at the contact but her eyes remain shut.

“Catra.” Adora is breathless, her throat already tensing with the feel of inevitable tears. “Catra, no, no. I—” She swallows, her hand gripping slightly at the remnants of Catra’s shirt.

Slowly, Catra opens her eyes, blue and gold still dancing in the light like they always do. Even here. Even now.

“Don’t strain yourself, princess,” she mutters then coughs. Adora tries to bite back the rising panic mixed with bile in her throat as dark red liquid comes sputtering out of the brunette’s mouth. Before she can act, however, Catra spits to the side, the sigh that escapes her lips sounding painful. “Damn. I messed myself up good this time, huh?” She laughs, a sad, hollow sound.

“Why did you do that?” Adora’s voice is quiet even in the midst of battle, but to her, it’s just Catra. Catra and her.

Catra and Adora against the world.

Like it was supposed to be.

Catra shrugs and then flinches at the movement; Adora becomes frightfully aware of the blood seeping through Catra’s clothing, soaking her pale skin and jacket. Her wound is worse than it was before, blood and guts gushing out of it at an alarming rate. With a pang in her heart, Adora thinks— _knows_ —she doesn’t have much time.

She shakes her head. No, not like this. It can’t end like this.

With a grunt, she attempts to move Catra, shifting her hands around her. “Come on. You need help, you can’t—”

Catra growls then yelps in pain, a clawed hand grappling at Adora’s forearm. “Adora, no—”

“You can’t stay here, you’ll die.”

“Adora—”

“I’m sure there’s someon—”

“Adora, _stop_.” Catra’s claws dig in to porcelain skin, ripping the blonde’s attention back to her. Their eyes meet and for a moment, just a second, the world stops.

And Adora feels like breaking.

She bites her lip, holding back a cry, and musters a quiet plea. “We can fix you. Please, let me.”

And Catra smiles again. It’s sad, vulnerable, devoid of life. “You know that’s not true.”

Adora’s heart catches in her throat. “Don’t say that.”

“I’ve messed up a lot in my life, ‘Dora, and I think this time…” A shaky sigh. Catra’s hand on her arm slips a little lower. “This time, I think I’ve gone a little too far.”

Adora’s gaze flits from the edges of the battle field, to Catra and back again before her shoulders sag and she lowers herself back to the ground on her knees. Her fingers on the back of Catra’s neck sift through locks of dust coated hair. Tears prick at the corners of blue eyes dulled by capitulation. “Catra, please.”

“What do you want me to say?”

 _There’s so much I need you to say_ , Adora silently cries.

“I can’t…” She chokes back a sob and lets the tears finally fall. “Don’t go.”

Catra blinks, long and drawn out, and when her eyes open again, they settle evenly on Adora’s, riddled with messy tears. The pain in her side begins to dull and her heads starts to feel fuzzy. _Not good_.

Another smile, and Adora wonders if it’s the last time she’ll ever see it.

“Sorry to rain on your parade, princess, but… Etheria needs She-ra. Etheria needs _you_.” She sighs and speckles of blood flicker out and onto the white fabric of Adora’s shirt. “I couldn’t let them take you away like that.”

Adora sniffles and splutters, “But...but you. What are we gonna do without you?”

Catra scoffs. “I think the Rebellion will—“

“What am _I_ gonna do without you?”

For the first time during this fleeting goodbye, Catra crumbles. She swallows back a hard lump in her throat and grasps at the front of her old friend’s jacket. She can already feel herself start to drift with each passing second, and panic begins to crawl its way under her skin. She clenches her canines together, tastes the heavy traces of blood on her tongue. “Ado—“

“No.” Adora’s voice is suddenly harsh as she tries to rise to her feet again. Catra seizes in pain. “No, I-I’m sure there’s someone that can help you. We—I can still save you. Come on, just—“ When she attempts to stand, she simply goes crashing down again with the weight of the brunette dragging her to the ground. “I’m not giving up on… Bow! Glimmer, please! I-I need—“

“No, Adora. I can’t move,” Catra hisses.

Her sky blue eyes are wide, wild, unrecognizable. “It’s okay, we just—we just gotta—“

“Stop it, Adora!”

“I can’t just sit here and let you die!” Adora shouts above the heat of battle, tears hot on her face, her throat constricting with the panic racking her body.

“You don’t have any other choice!” Catra bites back and groans, curling in on herself.

Adora stops, relaxes, falls back to her knees with a sob. An insufferable ringing fills Catra’s ears, makes her screw her eyes shut and set her jaw with a cry. Adora responds by wrapping her arms tighter around her friend, stroking her hair, weeping into her hair.

“Catra, I can’t… Don’t leave me.”

“Yeah, well why not?” the feline spits. “Why shouldn’t I let you know _exactly_ what it _felt like_?”

The words shouldn’t have tumbled out of her lips. She didn’t want them to. But in the throng of their argument and with Catra’s dying soul, what little self control she still inhibited melted away. Angry with herself, she clenches her fingers tighter around Adora’s shirt.

 _Not enough time_ , her mind groans, _not enough time_.

“I-I-I can’t…” Adora’s voice trails off with a sob. “I can’t lose you again.”

Another coughing fit racks Catra’s body. More blood comes oozing out of her mouth.

_Not enough time._

“I can’t live without you.”

Catra laughs, low and quiet. “Well, you’re gonna have to manage, Adora.”

She manages to open her eyes, lifts her face to look into Adora’s. Red sin is smeared across her jaw, chin, lips. Adora cries harder.

“Catra, please, don’t… I’m so sorry.” She swallows the bile rising in her throat. “I should’ve… I should’ve done it all differently. I never should’ve left you. I should’ve—should’ve stayed, should’ve—“

Catra quiets her with a simple, “shh.” A grin. “You’d think...after all this time...you’d learn to not talk so much.”

_Not enough time._

Adora, after one last glance into those aquamarine and amber eyes that always told her of love and adventure and mayhem, surges forward to push her forehead against Catra’s.

“I wanna redo it all. I wanna be your friend again. I wanna—wanna be there for you. One last time…”

Catra’s mind starts to disperse, dissipate. She can feel the heartbeat in her chest fading, can feel her time running out.

_Not enough time._

She wants to scream, to cry, to kiss her. There’s so much she wants to say, _so much_ , not enough time, _not enough._

“Don’t go, Catra.” Adora’s fleeting plea. The battle continues to roar around them, the ground shaking with each explosion, each footstep and Catra feels like she can sense it all. “Stay. Pl-please, don’t… Don’t leave me.”

“I can’t.”

“I know you can’t! But I-I need you to.” Catra can feel Adora’s salty tears mixing with the blood coating her face and if she had the strength, she would grimace. “I don’t—Don’t make me say goodbye.”

_Not enough time._

Catra’s blood turns to ice in her veins.

_Not enough time._

“Stay with me,” Adora whispers. “Please.”

Catra smiles.

_Not enough time._

“You were always...always so dumb, Adora,” she rasps, squeezing her eyes shut, pushing her forehead against the blonde’s. “So dumb.”

Catra’s heart slows, her breathing eases out, the hot pain in her body fades.

_Not enough time._

Adora’s words blend together in panic. “Catra. Catra, stay. Please. Stay, just hold on, hold on! Please. Don’t you dare leave me! Catra, no…!”

Catra’s heart stops. The smile falls from her lips.

Adora hands grip like vices onto the girl, her enemy, her friend. Her tears stream like waterfalls from her eyes, shut tight as if to drown out the pain. She bites hard enough on the insides of her cheeks to draw blood as she exhales. Her lips part to mutter one last phrase, one last confession to a dying love.

_Time’s up._

“I love you.”

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by the recent catra/catradora panic insued by noelle stevenson and the creators of she-ra and a rlly sad tweet abt...catra dying in adora’s arms :^)
> 
> this made me feel really sad to write
> 
> my twitter is @crnkgmeplys (L is an uppercase i)


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